Catch 22

by Joseph Heller

Nately was a sensitive, rich, good-looking boy with dark hair, trusting eyes, and a pain in his neck when he awoke on the sofa early the next morning and wondered dully where he was. His nature was invariably gentle and polite. He had lived for almost twenty years without trauma, tension, hate, or neurosis, which was proof to Yossarian of just how crazy he really was. His childhood had been a pleasant, though disciplined, one. He got on well with his brothers and sisters, and he did not hate his mother and father, even though they had both been very good to him.

                Nately had been brought up to detest people like Aarfy, whom his mother characterized as climbers, and people like Milo, whom his father characterized as pushers, but he had never learned how since he had never been permitted near them. As far as he could recall, his homes in Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Palm Beach, Southampton, London, Deauville, Paris and the South of France had always been crowded only with ladies and gentlemen who were not climbers and pushers. Nately’s mother, a descendant of the New England Torntons, was a Daughter of the American Revolution. His father was a Son of a Bitch.

                “Always remember,” his mother had reminded him frequently, “that you are a Nately. You are not a Vanderbilt, whose fortune was made by a vulgar tugboat captain, or a Rockefeller, whose wealth was amassed through unscrupulous speculations in crude petroleum; or a Reynolds or Duke, whose income was derived from the sale to the unsuspecting public of products containing cancer-causing resins and tars; and you are certainly not an Astor, whose family, I believe, still lets rooms. You are a Nately, and the Natelys have never done anything for their money.”

Notes and exercises:

1.     The prefix “–un” is used to form adjectives having the opposite meaning: scrupulous [´skru:pjul¶s] Û unscrupulous, suspecting Û unsuspecting. This prefix leads to doubling of “n” if the corresponding adjectives begin with the same letter. The same holds good for the prefixes “–in”, “–im”, and “–ir” (the prefix “–il” having the same effect on adjectives begin­ning with “l”, was discussed elsewhere). Add the above three prefixes to the following adjectives:

Ü    resistible          movable          orthodox         mobile             measurable

Ü    natural                        mortal             regular             necessary        responsible

Ü    navigable        mature             material          noticeable       objectionable

Ü      religious          mutable           resolute           relevant           neighbourly

2.     The suffixes “–ous”, “–ious”, “–oeus”, and “–uous” are used to form adjectives: unscrupulous, marvelous, boisterous, spacious, courageous, sensuous, etc. Memorize the spelling of the following adjectives:

famous                        poisonous        various                        vicious             precious

dangerous       venomous       serious             harmonious     bounteous

enormous        unanimous      previous          infectious        precarious

simultaneous   vigorous          piteous                        curious                        capricious

magnanimous rigorous           vociferous       envious           contagious

conscientious  humorous        amorous          righteous         beauteous

advantageous desirous           amorphous      precarious       vivacious

vicarious         miscellaneous treacherous     innocuous       superfluous

ferocious         continuous      conspicuous    incongruous    erroneous

delicious          bumptious       strenuous        gorgeous          outrageous

hideous           odious             fictitious         egregious         luscious

3.     The American Revolution—the war fought between Great Britain and her colonies in North America (1775–1783) by which the colonies won independence. Also called Revolutionary War, War of Independence and in Great Britain War of American Independence.

4.     The following words have a silent “b”: climber, lamb, comb, bomb, crumb, numb, dumb, tomb, tombstone, womb, limb, plumb, succumb, plumber, bomber, bombing, dumbness, benumbed, subtlety, subtle, doubt, debt, debtor, entombment.

5.     Give the form of the corresponding noun alongside with the adjectives listed below:

vicious             gracious          spacious          vivacious        atrocious

precious          ferocious         audacious       luscious           pernicious

malicious        officious         beauteous       piteous                        plenteous

bilious             bounteous       miscellaneous erroneous        spontaneous

simultaneous   homogeneous  various                        industrious      harmonious

mysterious      ambitious        contagious      melodious       studious

monotonous    luxurious         ludicrous         victorious        injurious

cautious          precautious     superstitious    contentious      

6.     Finish the following words deriving the proper adjectives:

Ü    advantag...      plent...             atroc...             vigor...             adventur...

Ü    moment...        feroc...             envi...              ambit...                       court...

Ü    humor...          contag...          mellifl...          right...              conscient...

Ü    courag...          superfl...          bount...                       amor...             danger...

Ü    conspic...         langour...         contin...           superstit...       ambig...

Ü      marvell...         ingen...                        traitor...           assid...             carnivor...

7.     Word study:

trauma          [´tro:m¶]—diseased condition of the body produced by a wound or injury

climber         a person who tries to advance socially

pusher           (colloq.) a person who pushes himself forward: Isn’t she a pusher!

8.     Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

to be in want of money, to be in reduced circumstances, to be out at elbows, to be in Queer Street, to be in low waters, to be on the rocks, not to have a penny/sixpence to bless oneself with, not to have a rag/shirt to one’s back, to be as poor as a church mouse, to be as poor as Job, to be as poor as Job’s turkey, to be hard up, to be badly off, not to have a bean, to be on one’s uppers, to be down and out, to be on one’s bones, to be stony broke, to be flat broke;

to be ruined financially, to go bankrupt, to put up the shutters, to shut up shop, to go broke;

to get money out of someone, to bleed somebody white, to milk/suck/squeeze somebody dry, to fleece somebody